Mokena businessman in bribery probe

March 28, 2010

A Mokena businessman whose 10-year-old Chicago construction firm has been awarded more than $45 million in federal contracts is under investigation for allegedly bribing two Army officials and improperly inflating the costs of hurricane-protection work his company did on a New Orleans-area levee.

Samuel Zepeda Jr., who received the 2005 Illinois "small business person of the year" award from a federal agency, allegedly paid a married couple who held top Army contracting positions as much as $270,000 to bolster his new company's prospects, according to recently unsealed court records.

He has not been charged. Federal authorities are examining bank records and six years' worth of contracts Zepeda's company, Vistas Construction of Illinois, and two related companies received as part of an investigation into possible contract fraud, bribery and wire fraud charges, records show.

Among the work Vistas allegedly received was more than $1.3 million in Army contracts in Bogota, Colombia, for services including "riverine logistics" -- planning for river-based military operations -- even though Zepeda's firm had no qualifications or experience in that field, according to an affidavit filed by an Army special agent.

Zepeda's only tie to Bogota was that the Army's contracting director there, Kenneth Nix, had allegedly been receiving cash payments from Zepeda's associates, the affidavit said.

Nix, a retired captain, resigned from his civilian position with the Army last year and now works directly for Zepeda, according to the affidavit. His wife, Velma Salinas-Nix, is a top civilian contracting official at Fort. Sam Houston in Texas.

Zepeda did not return calls seeking comment and attempts to reach him at his home and business were unsuccessful.

Over a five-year period, his father, Samuel Zepeda Sr., turned a small landscaping business into a Chicago construction powerhouse, winning minority-firm contracts worth nearly $50 million before running out of cash in 2001.

Zepeda Sr. filed for bankruptcy a year later. He and his son remain entangled in a Will County court dispute over nearly $1 million Zepeda Sr. allegedly owes on a loan he took out on a Chicago Heights hotel, records show.